PRI candidate concedes gubernatorial loss

Fernando Castro Trenti of Mexico's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party as he concedes defeat Saturday in the July 7 gubernatorial race. He is accompanied by members of his family and PRI leaders.

/ Agencia Fronteriza de Noticias

Fernando Castro Trenti of Mexico's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party as he concedes defeat Saturday in the July 7 gubernatorial race. He is accompanied by members of his family and PRI leaders.

Fernando Castro Trenti of Mexico's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party as he concedes defeat Saturday in the July 7 gubernatorial race. He is accompanied by members of his family and PRI leaders. (/ Agencia Fronteriza de Noticias)

The gubernatorial candidate in Baja California for Mexico’s ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party conceded defeat Saturday in the state's July 7 election.

“There was not the quantity of votes that we would have liked,” said the PRI’s Fernando Castro Trenti as appeared before journalists and supporters at a hotel in the city’s Rio Zone. In a 20-minute speech, he never named the winning candidate, Francisco Vega de Lamadrid of Mexico’s National Action Party, the PAN.

Castro Trenti’s statement has given some finality to a bitterly competitive campaign and a confusing aftermath generated by questions about the reliability of the preliminary vote count. Official results from the Baja California Institute of Electoral Participation are expected early next week.

Castro Trenti initially claimed victory soon after the polls closed on Sunday. But the preliminary and unofficial count showed him trailing in second place by three points. An error in computing the percentages drew some confusion, but representatives of Proisi, the private company that conducted the preliminary, said the numbers were never off.

The president of the electoral institute, Ruben Castro Bojorquez, however, quickly discredited the reliability of the preliminary count, drawing a criticism from Vega's supporters who accused him of being partial to the PRI.

The election has drawn national attention in Mexico, putting the spotlight on a state that has been an important symbol for the PAN, which registered its first gubernatorial triumph here in 1989 and has not lost an election since then.